text in the work:

All the times that I told the story of my place

I was born in Adria. Adria is the famous place that gave the name to the Adriatic Sea.

Normally I do not speak that much about me and my origin, but I know that abroad, and sometimes in Italy too, this name sounds weird. When I introduce myself and my place, most of the time I go for a shot story saying that I am Italian and I came from Adria, a little town 50 km away from Venice. This story is short and it is as true as the longer one is, but when somebody shows real interest in the place where I was born, I promised myself long ago to explain exactly where I am from.

When I start telling the long story about Adria, I am somehow happy about knowing where I will take the conversation, and happy to satisfy my audience, leaving some open points that can easily be filled by ready-to-answer questions. I think this story is much more interesting than the shorter one, also because the longer story has no need to mention famous places such as Venice (which was actually founded 1000 years later than Adria), but is entirely enough by itself. Another attitude that I feign when I tell the long story is acting like they should know such a well-known story just as they should know the important place where I come from.

I start saying that Adria was an ancient Etruscan port. Well, the first record of Adria is about a first settlement of Venetic origin in the 12th century BC; but the foundations of classic “Atria” or “Hatria” are dated around 500 BC. In this period the Etruscans conquered the area and transformed the town of Adria and its port into an centre of commerce. Due to the far-reaching importance and influence of the city, the sea was named Adriatic after the Etruscan city of Adria.”

At this point if I see that I am showing off too much by playing the historian, I say that people aren’t expected to know this story, it is only that, I promised myself long ago to tell the story of my place every time somebody asked. There is nothing to worry about if they do not know the place because nowadays Adria is a small town with 20,000 inhabitants in a economically depressed area with fog in the winter and mosquitoes in the summer.

If people are not too bored at this point, they normally bring up Venice or come up with some questions about the sea and the coast. I normally say that the coast in the area is ok, grey sandy beaches, the water is not that clear due to the position between the two deltas of the main two  Italian rivers, the Adige and Po. Right after that I have to declare that Adria it is not at the seaside, but 25 km away from the cost. Most of the time the question then comes by itself, how is it possible that a city that is not on the sea gave the name to the Adriatic sea? And this is the part that I like most because it allows me to reply to a legitimate question with an answer that is so true and logical that it could appear surreal. I answer this way, saying that Adria was an Etruscan harbour that was not directly on the sea, but on the coast of the Po, where the river met the sea. It took 2,500 years for the Po to put 25 km of land between Adria and the coast as its delta grew, now forming a bulge of land in the sea.

At this point the conversation ends, people swear not to be really sure of my version of the facts and assure me that they will check it in the next days. I say yes that they should check it so that they know in which sea they will bathe next time.

Normally after this, I try not to mention the story of Adria anymore and we drink something together.